Sign



oct 22 1929 A. J. wEHR :fr AL 11,732,822

SIGN

Filed Deo. 17, 1926 Patented oct. 22, 1929 UNITED STATES llPA'rENT oFFicE .ARTHUR J'. WEER AND JOI-IN W. SHEERES, OF FORT MONMO'UTH, NEW JERSEY, ANDl AMORF V. ELIOT, 0F LANGLEY FELD, VI'RGINIA SIGN Application filed December 17, 1926. Serial No. 155,413.

This invention relates to signs.

A feature of the present invention is the embodiment in a sign formed of a casing or equivalent having a front or exposed face which/ is non-reflecting, or openings in such face which are cut out i. e., stencilled, for the outline of such lettering or other representationv desired to be displayed, and a reflecting medium disposed within the casing in suitable relationship to such out out cilled openings, whereby the display of the sign is readable at night by reflection of light furnished by headlights of automobiles or the like. Signs embodying our invention are legible in daylight by reason of the c utouts or stencilled representations.

Signs embodying our invention may be emplayed for restaurants, hotels, inns and other usinesses, either at the location of the same or for advertising purposes generally along the roadway.

Our invention is also adaptable to signs bearing reading matter relating lto traffic' regulations for cautionary and any other purposes.

Further features and objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detail description and the accompanying drawings in which n Fig., 1 is a perspective View of a sign embodying our invention, and illustration of the suspension type and appropriate for la hotel or inn;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on line 2-2 of'Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an exploded view in perspective of a traffic instructionsign showing a modification of the above form of our invention.

Referring to Figs;` 1 and 2, the sign 10 is illustrated of artistic form and applicable to display the name of an inn, and bearing other appropriate designation. In this instance', the arbitrary name chosen is Ye 01de tavern, which may be that of a hotel, restaurant, inn or the like. Such sign 10 may be suspended from a pair of supporting chains 11, 11, as indicated in Fig. 1, or may. hang by an other suitable means.

he lettering ofthe sign appears on the exposed face of the wall 12. The material tions 14, 14 intervening between the openings 13 are integral with the body portion of the .material 10, also integral with the portion 15 disposed within the inner and outer contours of the letter. Such stencilled formation of the letters effects a distinct outline and facilitates legibility, and also increases the strength of the combined bodyportion and intervening portions of the material 12 forming the exposed face of the sign 10.

n Fig. 1, there is also illustrated the representat1on 16 of a boars head, served o n a platter, the inner and outer contour lines'of 'of the wall 12' is preferably of non-reflecting l which are similarly formed by stencilling.

The resulting openings in the front or exposed plate ing the desired reading matter and other representations are designated generally 17 in Fi 2. The remainder of the casing` 10 may ge in the form of a back plate 18 of suitable material, and the front. plate 12 and back plate 18A secured to one another by frictionally binding side and end flanges 19, 2() respectively; such flanges 19, 20 may be permanently secured to one another by welding, riveting and the like as desired.

Within the casing formed by such surfaces 12, 18, is disposed suitably a relectin medium such as a mirror, indicated in ig. 2 as composed ofthe sheet vof glass 21 and backed by a silvered ,layer 22, or equivalent.

Preferably,we employ a prismatlc 4medmm 23-of glass or equivalent interposed between the reflecting medium 21, 22 and the res ective openings 17, whereby the light urnished by the headlight of 'an automobile or otherl lighting source is reflected Igenof'the material 12 for attainerally by the surfaces of the respective prisms and the'light waves also dispersed by the prisma-tic faces after reflection from the silvered or other reflecting surface 22.

If desired, the medium 23 may be of colored glass, or a sheet of colored translucent material interposed between the medium 23 and the mirrored surface 21, 22. Such colored translucent material may be used with the reflecting medium Without a refract-ing medium.

It will be obvious that the rear face 18 of the sign 10 may similarly bear lettering and other representation, to afford advertisement, when viewed ina direction opposite to that of viewing the designations on the front surface 12.

Likewise, our invention is applicable for traffic instructions such as a stop reading signal, appropriate in advance of railroad and other danger locations. The front portion 25 of the casing of such' sign may be in the form of a circular cup-shaped member, the front material 25 of which is cut out by stencilling to effect the lettering of the word stop, and also, if desired, for

R R. to indicate a railroad crossing. Similar designations with or without pictoriall representations are carried out in a similar manner.

The rear portion 26 of the casing of such sign may be of a corresponding cup-shaped cylindrical construction of a larger diameter,

to telescopically receive the front portion- 25. lVithin the casing thus 'formed is disposed a reflecting medium such as a glass disk 27 bearing silvering on its rear face with or 'without a prismatic medium '28 which may be'of glass or other translucent material and bearing regular or irregularly formed prisms. Such medium 28 maybe colored or clear. A colored translucent material may be employed with a clear prismatic medium or without the latter.

4As appears from the above, signs embodying our invention are highl advantageous in that the ysame are illuminated by light waves furnished gratuitously by the headlights of automo`biles or other sources of light, the majority of such light sources relative to any particular sign being intermitted at night.

For daylight visibility, the color of the material per se of the paint or coating on the exposed face of the casing of the sign should be in contrast to the coloring or clear7 of the stencilled openings and of the refracting or reflecting medium or both.

Signs embodylng our invention may be employed at the respective locations of hotels, inns, restaurants, hot dog stands and the like or may be positioned along the roadway for advertising purposes.

be understood that many changes and modifications may be made without' departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

`We claim: A. reflecting sign, comprising a casing of opaque sheet material and including a front wall having portions thereof cut out to form a design, a sheet of glass disposed rearwardly of said front wall, said glass sheet having its rear face silvered to serve as a reflecting face, and a sheet of colored translucent material disposed immediately forwardly of said sheet of reflecting material and rearwardly of said front wall, said sheet of ranslucent material having a roughened ace. A In testimony whereof we have signed this specification this 28th day of October, 1926.

ARTHUR J. WEHR.' JOHN WV. SHEERES. AMORY V. ELIOT. 

